It's quite a famous book, and I recall that my fifth grade teacher recommended it to me. But at the time I wasn't particularly interested in it, so I figured I might read it when I was older, if I ever ran out of books to read (in other words, there was almost no chance that I would read TKAM of my own accord).

I think I'd actually made the right choice by not reading the book then because I ended up reading it this year as part of the 9th grade literature curriculum. I really don't like to read books twice (there are so many good books out there, I'd much rather be reading those than reading something that I already know the ending to), and besides, if I'd read it back then, I probably wouldn't have been able to understand as much of it. (Not that TKAM is a difficult book to comprehend or anything. At least the author doesn't write with thy's and thou's and other such old language.) I really don't remember much of the books that I read when I was younger, though...I guess my brain thought other things were more important.

I actually thought the book was quite interesting, and enjoyed reading about a trial, as well as seeing a mysterious character make an appearance at last (can't reveal more than that if you haven't read the book). The movie was a disappointment in comparison. It seemed too rushed since it left out a lot of content and changed what it did put in, though I suppose moviegoers don't have as much patience, and it would be a pain to make a really long movie anyways. Well, of course, there is a general rule that books are better than their movie counterparts (which makes me fearful about the Twilight movies; I've heard some say it was good and others say it was "meh", so I don't know who to believe. But I don't really want to watch them anyways because the books were rather bland). I ought to read the Howl's Moving Castle book, but of course I keep putting it off. In fact, I really haven't been doing all that much reading these days. I really have to get back to the books.

In the case of TKAM, the mockingbird represents someone who was punished even when he/she hadn't done anything wrong. But after hearing a friend's description of a mockingbird that lived in her neighborhood (an actual bird, mind you, not a person), I'm not sure if a mockingbird is the best symbol of innocence. Although TKAM says that mockingbirds must not be shot because they sing beautiful songs, my friend (I shall refer to her as SNK) says that the mockingbird near her house is very annoying. It imitates the sounds it hears and makes a racket at nighttime, which disturbs her sleep. Eventually it either went away or got shot by a neighbor (I hope not, that's a pretty gruesome end to a bird, even if it was disturbing the peace). Another friend of mine says she'd like to have a mockingbird as a pet, though, since it is able to imitate sounds it hears (apparently it could even imitate the tunes from songs for the piano and violin. Not bad!). Wonder if they can be raised as pets. I used to want a squirrel as a pet, because I like their fluffy tails, but I suppose it would probably have rabies.

Labels: bird, book, death, disappointment, harper lee, howl's moving castle, imitation, mockingbird, movie, noise, novel, pet, repeating, rule, squirrel, story, to kill a mockingbird

My mother has it. It's because she dyes her hair. She is not pleased with the grey hairs that keep showing up, so she dyes them once in a while. I have told her not to dye it anymore. I think it would be beautiful if her hair became completely silver and if she grew it out long, like my science teacher (well, not that my science teacher is beautiful, no offense intended to her...But who knows how she looked in her youth?).

Hair dye reminds me of the Studio Ghibli movie, Howl's Moving Castle, one of my all-time favorite movies of time. You know, I'd like to say that even if a movie is animated, it doesn't mean it's not worth watching. (I liked the movie Up, too, and Finding Nemo as well. All those movies have some hidden messages in them, be sure to pay attention to that too)

There's a scene where Howl, a magician who lives in a big, mechanical, moving structure powered a by a demon (the demon's name is Calcifer, and he appears to be a fire), was taking a bath when his hair changed colors. It was because Sophie, a main character of the movie (she was a girl, but a witch cast a spell on her that made her become an old lady) was cleaning the bathroom and probably mixed up the chemicals. Howl's hair turned red, which devastated him, as he had previously had a nice blond shade of hair. He started to moan about how life wasn't worth living if he wasn't beautiful. Then Sophie got upset and said, "I've never been beautiful!" and stormed out. Later on, Howl's hair darkened to black.

I often wonder during the film if Sophie has low self esteem or something. She always seems to think she is ugly even though she isn't. SPOILER! Skip to the next paragraph if you don't want it to be spoiled for those of you who haven't watched the movie. But there is one scene where Howl tells Sophie her hair looks like starlight, which I think is a very nice simile. Sophie seemed to appreciate the compliment, unlike a different time. There was one scene where Howl gave Sophie a gift, beautiful meadows and water. It was a place where he had spent his childhood. Sophie was pleased at first, but soon became saddened, saying she thought this meant Howl was going to leave. She said she wanted to help him, even though she was only good at cleaning. Howl tried to tell her that she was beautiful, but she didn't accept it. She just said, "The good thing about being old is that you don't have anything to lose." But I wonder if that is really true.

Well, anyhow, though many of the Studio Ghibli films are quite nice, I still like Howl's Moving Castle the best. It was based off a book, but I haven't read the book. I actually checked out the book from the library once. However, since I always read books (and eat food, too) in the order of least favorite to most favorite, I didn't get around to it, and unfortunately had to return it. Perhaps I should request it from the library. (But I would like to get one of the newer copies that has the Howl's Moving Castle movie picture on it...)

So I've been wondering, has anyone read the Howl's Moving Castle book? If so, is it similar to the movie? Or is it a lot different? If the book is really good, I would like to read it. (Usually I either read the book/manga for something or watch the movie/anime for it, and occasionally both. But I'd rather spend my time reading books/manga that don't have movies, and watch movies that don't have books or anime)

It amazes me that I haven't really talked much about Howl's Moving Castle before in my blog. Perhaps it was because I watched it in the theaters, back in fourth grade or so, and it became far from my memory because I was distracted by other things. I'm glad I found it again, though. I never get tired of watching good movies and anime. Do you have a movie or show that you love so much you don't get bored of it?

Labels: animated film, anime, beauty, books, boredom, calcifer, cleaning, colors, grey, hair dye, hayao miyazaki, howl, howl's moving castle, movie, old, sophie, studio ghibli, teacher

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